Debutant Weir’s left feeling Blue as Cardiff shine
DUNCAN WEIR kicked 11 points on his debut but could not prevent Alan Solomons’ side going down to an opening-weekend defeat at the hands of the Cardiff Blues.
Edinburgh ended last season with a home defeat to the Blues and, while Solomons’ side were much improved here, the hangover from the awful end to the last campaign continues.
Solomons’ side won just one of their final four Guinness Pro12 fixtures last year and could do nothing to turnaround their fortunes against a formidable Blues side.
Danny Wilson’s side won an impressive 80 per cent of their home fixtures last season and after recruiting well this summer, it looks like the Welsh capital will be a very tough place to go to for every side in the Pro12 this season.
Nick Williams was making his debut for the Blues but his first act was to drop the ball at the back of the line-out to hand the visitors a scrum in a promising position.
The Blues were then penalised after coming under pressure at the set-piece and Duncan Weir was able to notch-up his first competitive points for Edinburgh with a kick.
The lead lasted just five minutes as stand-off Steven Shingler, a summer signing from Welsh rivals the Scarlets, made a far more impressive start to his debut than team-mate Williams.
Shingler had first given Edinburgh a warning with a lovely show-and-go that came to nothing because of a lack of support on his shoulder, but he couldn’t be stopped shortly after as he went between two defenders for the game’s opening try.
It was then the turn of another debutant, Edinburgh’s Solomoni Rasolea, to make his mark on the contest after Edinburgh had worked their way deep into the Blues’ half.
A quick pass from the base of a ruck when met by an even quicker running line from Rasolea and he brushed past Rey Lee-Lo to crash over.
Solomons last week spoke about Rasolea’s ability to give Edinburgh an extra dimension this season and looks to have hit the ground running with Sasa Tofilau.
Weir added the conversion and a long-range penalty from inside his own half to give the visitors a sixpoint lead but Shingler clawed three points back on the half hour with his first penalty of the evening.
Williams was starting to make up for his shaky start with the sort of powerful runs from eight which had made him such a popular figure with Ulster last season.
Cardiff haven’t had a player of that ilk since another Kiwi, Xavier Rush, retired four years ago and head coach Wilson is hoping for a similar impact from Williams.
The Blues regained the lead seven minutes before half-time when Edinburgh’s Jamie Ritchie was shown a yellow card for deliberately taking down a rolling maul and referee John Lacey awarded a penalty try.
Weir then missed two long-range penalties in two minutes before the break to leave the visitors trailing by four points at the interval.
The Blues suffered a blow two minutes after the restart when hooker Kirby Myhill was forced off with a knee injury.
But the home side were then gifted three points when flanker Hamish Watson was penalised for a careless hand on the ball at the scrum and Shingler was able to add his second penalty.
Weir then responded with his third penalty of the evening as the Blues were finding it difficult to shake free of the visitors.
Wilson’s side may have enjoyed a formidable record at BT Cardiff Arms Park in the Pro12 last season, but they were struggling to show the sort of dominance seen in the last campaign.
The introduction of Wales international Gareth Anscombe for Shingler added a touch of extra quality for the home side and he was soon finding gaps in the visitors’ tiring defence.
Anscombe proved to be the spark the Blues needed and the game’s decisive moment came with just under 20 minutes remaining when home No 8 Williams marked his first game for the Welsh side with a try from close range.
With eight minutes remaining, the Blues got their third try of the evening when scrum-half Tomos Williams found a big gap in the visitors’ defence and went over under no real pressure.
The Blues went searching for the bonus-point victory in the final moments but couldn’t find a another try to put the gloss on the victory.